Hello, newbie here, just joined yesterday, and I'm wisely not diving in headfirst, considering it would probably bomb that way. Anyway, I'd just like to get my idea out there, see if its any good at all. I'd rather get a feel about whether it would bomb or do well before I start writing it. Also, before I start, yes, I know my idea is a bit clichéd, however, I believe I have an idea of a way to spin it so that it isn't just another ripoff.
Basically, its a closet. A closet that eats people.(I know, I know, the "thing what makes people disappear" is an overused idea, however, I have a unique twist, that I'd rather not divulge too much.) All I will say about it is suppose the Foundation was attempting to contain an SCP that is almost common knowledge, ie, a paranormal tv show did a story on said SCP.
The idea sounds good to me, but I'm not sure how well other people will accept it.

[…] suppose the Foundation was attempting to contain an SCP that is almost common knowledge […]

Is the closet the well known SCP, or is it the SCP with which The Foundation is attempting to contain the well known SCP? If it's the latter, that seems potentially un-Foundation-like, because my understanding (keep in mind that I'm also relatively new) is that they don't really like to let SCPs interact.

In any case, I don't know if I understand your idea well enough to say one way or the other, so I suggest either throwing up a sandbox or giving us more info. Or waiting for someone else who knows what they're talking about; that would also probably work.

The closet is the SCP. I can't divulge too much without giving my whole twist away. Basically, something extremely out of the ordinary happened in said closet. However, the story became common knowledge in the town before the Foundation ever arrived. Long story short, before Agents were able to silence the event, it had appeared in newspapers in half the state. The knowledge of the event and SCP became too widespread for the Foundation to effectively erase. It all culminated in <DATA EXPUNGED>, a popular paranormal tv show, hosted by well known actor <DATA EXPUNGED>, airing a segment about the incident and the SCP. In other words, the SCP is quite safely contained, however, the knowledge that it exists is everywhere, which I imagine would irk the Foundation to no end.

P. S.
Yes, this is partially based on something I saw on tv. Not only that, the show claimed it had really happened, despite how impossible it sounded. No, I do not intend to commit plagiarism, because I fully intend to make the facts as different from the story I heard as possible.

Plagiarism is tricky business. Changing facts or details probably isn't enough. Unless you're absolutely sure that what you're writing is original enough to be free of scrutiny, don't do it. In fact, even if you are absolutely sure, ask a staff member anyway.

I see. Well, the fact is, I never planned to actually use the show or actor's names. I fully intended to have a blanket <DATA EXPUNGED> over all that info. Also, the only thing I was using from the story is the closet, everything else I planned to make vastly different. I've done my research, the story itself, seeing as its supposedly "true" isn't really the issue. In fact, its been floating around apparently for years, before that show did a piece on it. I was mainly afraid of being accused of plagiarism by virtue of mentioning the show, which, as I said, had merely repackaged a story that was on the web since at least the early 90's.

EDIT: I'm not trying to copy said story word for word. It merely inspired me. I was thinking about that story, and it hit me, that if the Foundation was real, it would be doing everything in its power to contain that closet. It inspired the germ of an SCP idea in my head. What if there was an SCP that millions of people knew about, because a tv show had gone and aired a story about said SCP? I thought it would be a unique idea, because of course, even with nearly unlimited resources, the Foundation can't possibly stamp out all information once a tv show has broadcasted it to millions. However, I did not plan to just take the story from that and copy it here word for word. I'm only using it as inspiration. How can using something as inspiration count as plagiarism?

I never planned to actually use the show or actor's names. I fully intended to have a blanket <DATA EXPUNGED> over all that info.

this alone should be throwing up red flags. The fact that you're keeping so close to reality that you were just planning on blacking out real names says that you're not even close to re-imagining this enough to justify your position.

Well, of course the show and actor names would be expunged. For some reason, that seems like something the Foundation would expunge.
On another note, though, I've lost all enthusiasm for doing an SCP at all. This idea is going into the trash can. Its obviously a shitty idea, and sadly, I've had major writer's block for months(especially on my novel), andi have no other forthcoming ideas.

Posting this assuming the following isn't the premise of the show you saw…

What about the episode of the paranormal show (assuming it is a "reality show" sort of thing) is a cover for what is really going on? A sort of "cover up the truth by telling part of the truth" sort of thing?

What I am getting at here is (and take this as an example) the closet makes people disappear, through whatever means. The Foundation discovers that it is well-known, but believes it to be inconsequential for some reason until they confirm the disappearances. Then they investigate and find out that either A) the closet isn't what is making the people disappear or B) the closet is much, much more than what it appears to be. A twist on this is that the Foundation knows what is happening to these people and that they aren't dead, but something else has happened to them.

Maybe it isn't the closet at all. Maybe there's a full length mirror inside (though I think a mirror that sucks people in has been done) or a forgotten piece of clothing hanging inside or something equally non-integral to the closet. Hell, if you wanted to be silly, have it be a box of old moth balls that changes whoever disturbs it into a moth.

The key here is to integrate the paranormal TV show as a believable cover-up. A "oh, this is on one of those shows so it can't be real" sort of thing. There is magic in "the reality is much, much worse" idea. Besides, a closet that just goes OMNOMNOM on people is pretty boring and not really horrifying. What happens (or even doesn't happen) once they get swallowed can be.

You can take a nugget of an idea (a closet that eats people) from another source and change it so drastically that it isn't plagiarism.

I'm not trying to shoot you down here, man; I think your idea has potential, but I don't want you or the wiki to get into trouble for plagiarism. Of course The Foundation would expunge names like that, but The Foundation is extant in a fictional universe. You're expunging real names from real life; they shouldn't be there to expunge in the first place.

Tribblepoo makes a good point: If the show inspired you with one paranormal closet, and you then took the idea of a paranormal closet but put a completely different spin on it (e.g. the closet itself isn't paranormal and something entirely different is going on), then you'll probably be fine. But, I still urge you—implore you, even—to solidify your idea on what you're going to write, and then explain it in full (in addition to what the original TV show was about) to a staff member and get their OK.

I'm really not trying to put you down, I'm just trying to look out for you.

Well, its very easy to put a new spin on said closet. The story I saw didn't say a single thing as to what might have happened, which, for me, tends to get my imagination going on overdrive. I was already brainstorming any number of SCP worthy explanations as to the disappearances.

To clarify, the original story hinted there was a monster in the closet. I already planned to scrap that idea totally, not only because that would be copying, but also because "thing what has monsters" is overused. Heck, if I can even think of a way to make it not a closet, I will, but, sadly, for now, it is firmly stuck as a closet in my mind. What I'm saying is, the closet is negotiable, hell, it can be anything else for all I care, but I want the tv show angle.

Hell, it could be a VW Beetle from hell,(I know, cheesy). I will try to see if I can change it from a closet. If I can't though, I will mutilate the story into something unrecognizable. Sigh, if really necessary, I'll drop the show angle, but that mainly was my only proposed hook. That said, I do like the idea that the show is a cover. I like the thought that the Foundation would even make a tv show to cover up existance of an SCP.

The TV show angle is fine—I don't think there is anything wrong with that—but it needs to be entirely fictional. Base your hook around a fictional TV show—perhaps even a different type of show than you originally saw.

Beyond that, just make sure that whatever your closet does is entirely different than what the TV show said and/or hinted at. If it continues to be a closet, that's probably fine; if it happens to be something other than the closet (even though it appears that the closet itself is doing it), that's even better.

Just make sure that whatever you write is something other than an SCPified version of what you saw on TV. Inspiration is fine, but don't let it be any more than that.

For the record, the inspiration was a story I saw on an episode of Beyond Belief, Fact or Fiction, hosted by Johnathan Frakes. I say this so anyone can check the story out themself to make certain I didn't copy it too closely. (I don't plan to copy anything, but you never know what other people will consider copying.)

I mean, I'm currently in college working on a CS / Latin double major, and the general rule whenever I write a research paper is: Regardless of whether you actually use any of the material from an article, if you read it in the hopes of finding something for your own paper, cite it in the bibliography anyway, that way it's far less likely that anything will fall through the cracks.

Well, yes, it is the inspiration. In a nutshell, the original story was a bout a kid who said there was a monster in his closet. He hated sleeping in his room because of that. His older brother and friends all teased the kid about said monster. One day, they all cornered the kid, and were about to force him into the closet. The kid then said that if he didn't believe there was a monster, why didn't the brother just go in. The brother took that as a challenge, and went in. He then started yelling and banging on the door, but the other kids just thought he was kidding. At that moment, the boy's mother got home, and entered the bedroom to find out what all the kids were doing in there. She opened the closet, no older brother. Only the clothing he had been wearing. The brother was never seen again. The show maintained that this story was indeed fact. (Which, I might add, scared me shitless, as I was like nine or ten when I first saw it, so you can imagine.) I got to thinking about the story, how its apparently fact, and realized that if the Foundation really existed, it definately would contain a closet after someone disappeared in it. The fact that I saw it on tv also inspired me, with the aforementioned tv show angle.

Ok, I am familiar with that show. For those that aren't, the premise was somewhat interesting. It would present a series of stories (3 per episode if I recall correctly) and would leave the viewers to decide which one was a "real event" as reported by witnesses and which ones were made up for the show. At the end of each episode, they'd reveal which one was a "real event".

Lee Jones, you should be okay if you completely ditch this format. It was pretty unique to this show. Also, ditch the story presented in the original show as well. You should be okay if you do this.

The angle you may want to take for a purely Foundation-based program is to make it a one-time documentary (one or two hour running time) that highlights a number of SCPs with the purpose of "covering the truth with itself…and a fine layer of bullshit for good measure". One-time documentaries abound out there in our real world, so it's by no means a stretch that the Foundation might use this tactic to help cover up some SCPs that were at risk of being exposed.

I like your suggestion. My one minor difference is that the main SCP that the article will be about will be an SCP that is already known about, because whatever horrible <DATA REDACTED> happened with it was extensively told and retold to the point that potentially millions of people knew about it before it was contained. Far too many people to possibly just administer Class-As to everyone. I had originally thought of using the show as the reason the knowledge was so widespread, but everyone is right, that is too close to the original. Therefore, yes, I will change it so that the Foundation has no other way to curb the knowledge except with a show.
If it is ok, I would like to still at least hint, without saying out right, that the host of said documentary is Johnathon Frakes. I wouldn't ask, but, there is a precedent. I forget the SCP number, but there is an SCP, the <DATA REDACTED> game show, hosted by well known game show host, <DATA REDACTED>. To me, that reference has always seemed to be a direct reference to Alex Trebek.

Perhaps the SCP is known about in a certain town or region (as would be probable if its knowledge wasn't the result of a TV spot; local news papers would probably pick it up but not much else; maybe national if it were really crazy), so The Foundation makes their "documentary" and airs it only in that one place. I imagine that they treat it like a paranormal show that presents the weird shit but then gives a probable/partial explanation and lets "you decide".

The only way this would work is if the Foundation "forced" collaboration of the local news agencies. This also seems a bit short-sighted. To me, it would serve a two-shot disinformation campaign if this were a nation-wide broadcast, perhaps on a basic cable channel.

The effect of discrediting the story locally would be attained. Combine this with SCPs in danger of exposure from other areas, and you have a good, 1-2 hour national broadcast whose aim is disinformation via the partial truth. Lee Jones doesn't have to get into the subjects of the other SCPs in the program, just the "closet", and just mention this SCP was contained via partial disclosure, along with X other SCPs.

Well, I was imagining it happening in LA, or some other large, metropolitan area. It ended up on all the news outlets in said large city, and the newspapers as well. If the city is large enough, I imagine it would at least be reported in half the state, ie, California, or Washington. The further spread I imagined as being online. Some unknown person posts on a forum about the crazy shit that happened in said big city, everyone else on the forum being weirded out, and so the knowledge of the event( and, by extension, the SCP) spreads widely thanks to the World Wide Web. Voíla, millions of people know about it.

Now, I'm not sure of a good, believable way for the Foundation to discover the SCP. I plan for the initial event to be something major, which would be guaranteed to appear on the local news. There will be an extensive police investigation, that lasts for nearly a month before the Foundation steps in. I figure the cops would initially keep the anomolous event hush-hush. In fact, the whole thing wouldn't even appear on the Foundation radar, except that someone in the police department leaks the full details to the press and news outlets. Prior to that, all knowledge of the investigation was routine, run of the mill stuff. Then bam, the most prominent newspapers in the area run frontpage headlines on the police cover up. Every news outlet runs a story on it. Overnight, the entire case is revealed.

In a nutshell, my basic premise is that there was an SCP that became too widely known before the Foundation ever even arrived. It was at the point that they couldn't make everyone forget, and the location where the SCP was located also happened to be far too prominent to just terminate everyone who knows. If that many people were terminated in that well known a city, it would be too suspicious. Therefore, all the Foundation could hope to do in this situation was explain the SCP away in such a manner that was guaranteed to be seen by millions of people. What better than tv?

Still, even if a lot of people did hear about this anomalous item/event, how many people would believe it? Most people are skeptics regarding the paranormal, so whatever happened would have to strike a lot of people as "Oh shit, did that really happen?", in which case the Foundation might actually feel compelled to disseminate this partial truth cover-up.

But, yeah, write up a draft. This thread has gone on long enough; I want to see what you can do.

Well, it isn't as if everyone actually fully believes it, the problem is, a huge amount of people that do believe it are out there. The story goes wild amoung believers of the paranormal, the knowledge is viral. That would count as a major breach for the Foundation, I believe.

Sorry to resurrect my own dead thread, but sadly, I have not been able to get down to writing this SCP idea yet due to life interfering. Whenever it does finally settle down, I will finally start writing it.